When Milan hired Marco Giampaolo one of his first signings was his player from Empoli, Rade Krunic. The Bosnian mezzala who had relegated with Empoli like Bennacer was a student under Giampaolo before Giampaolo before to Sampdoria. Playing a 3 man midfield in a 4-3-1-2, Giampaolo wanted midfielders that were familiar with his system and hence he signed Krunic for 8M from Empoli.
However Giampaolo didn’t last for more than 7 games and in came Pioli, who brought used Krunic until a series of recurring injuries until the lockdown.
With Pioli shifting to a 4-2-3-1/4-4-2, Krunic’s place in the side got diminished. The Milan management however decided to keep faith in the player in the summer and not sell him to get a Defensive midfielder. It now seems like a mistake.
The problem with Krunic
Before we analyze the problem of Krunic, let us understand the style of player Krunic is. Krunic is an advanced midfielder who has a decent touch and a passer. A player who can recycle possession and keep possession he can more like instigate attacks. He relies more on off the ball movement and a lot of running. He isn’t very press resistant and as seen against Celtic loses the ball if he is pressed.
Milan under Pioli play 4-2-3-1 and use a double pivot and modified #10 with 2 widemen and a lone striker at the top. Pioli uses Kessie and Bennacer as Ball-winners as well Deep-Lying playmakers when the team has possession. When Milan lose the ball, one of the double pivot initiates the press depending on the zones they have been assigned. Hakan’s job is to distribute the ball in the opposition half, position between the lines and split the lines with passes.
Now Krunic’s skillset is more suited to that of a half-winger or Mezzala as the Italians like to call it. With no real ball winning skills and ability to affect play from deep or even physicality, Krunic cannot be played as Defensive midfielder in Milan’s double pivot. Milan tried Krunic in the Attacking midfielder slot but being very less press resistant krunic is not able to position himself well to receive the ball like Hakan or Brahim Diaz does.
With this we can infer that Krunic is not fit for Milan’s 4-2-3-1 and he is like the piece in a jigsaw that does not fit. He does not provide the adequate cover like Pioli hoped he would.
Conclusion
In terms of workrate, Krunic has always given 100% on the field. He ranked 2nd in the players with most covered distance against Lazio but distance covered does not tell us the real story of how he seemed completely zoned out and overrun by Lazio midfield.
Milan will have close to 24 games in the league to play along with Europa League and Coppa italia to play. Milan need reinforcements but given how Milan are not willing to overspend selling krunic would free up funds for Milan to make a new acquisition in the midfield department
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